Dear Burning Questions,
I would like to know when Vicki Allen will have another book out. I have read and enjoyed The Search for Shannon, For Molly and the sequel The Return. These books are excellent and powerful stories. If one enjoys Billie Letts, Nora Roberts, and Nicholas Sparks, they will enjoy Vicki Allen's work.

Joyce Baker
Auburn, Alabama

You're not alone in your admiration for Vicki Allen. Her first novel, For Molly, captured readers' hearts with its portrait of a woman struggling to escape an abusive relationship. Now, Allen tells BQ she is hard at work on a fourth novel, The Other Brother, which will be the third entry in the series she started with For Molly. It's set for release in 2004. Allen, who recently moved back to her native Louisiana after 18 years in Oklahoma, didn't originally intend to write a series. "I'm finding that the characters in For Molly and The Return have become reader favorites," she says. "In answer to demands that I write a trilogy, I've incorporated some of the characters from both books in with ideas I already had for a fourth novel, focusing more on Molly Lenoir and her generation. I have also started a fifth novel, a prequel to For Molly, and have had requests to see more of Lois Carson from The Search for Shannon, so ideas for a sixth book are already swirling."

PERFECT TIMING

Dear Burning Questions,
Can you tell me when Jodi Picoult's next book will be out and what it is about? Her last one, Perfect Match, was awesome. Thanks!

Fred Moore
East Lansing, Michigan

Picoult's 10th book, Second Glance, will be released in April by Atria Books. Picoult did extensive research into both the paranormal and 1930s Vermont for her new novel. It tells the story of Ross Wakeman, a man haunted by the untimely death of his fiancee. In hopes of contacting her, he takes up ghost hunting.

SIDNEY'S SECRET

Dear Burning Questions,
Can you please tell me what happened to the marvelous writer Sidney Sheldon? Have not heard of him in ages.

Clara Derzay
Waukesha, Wisconsin

BQ contacted Sheldon to find out what's coming up next from this prolific writer. As it happens, he's planning not one but three new projects, the first of which—a suspense novel titled Are You Afraid of the Dark?—will appear sometime this year. Unfortunately, he won't reveal details about the plot prior to publication; Sidney tells us the subject matter "is presently a closely guarded secret."

The other two projects are departures from Sheldon's typical works. The Other Side of Me is an autobiography, and Sidney Sheldon's Miracles and Other Mysteries will be his first foray into nonfiction. Stay tuned for release dates.

CASE CLOSED

Dear Burning Questions,
Can you tell me when Katherine Hall Page will be coming out with another book? She is one of my favorite mystery writers, and I would be glad to hear she'll soon have one available.

Fern Miller
Newcomerstown, Ohio

You'll be happy to learn that Agatha Award-winning writer Page has recently completed a new mystery featuring amateur sleuth Faith Fairchild. The Body in the Lighthouse, the 13th installment in the popular series, will be published in May by William Morrow. Disputes between the locals and the summer people are disrupting the Fairchild family's vacation in Maine. Things go from bad to worse when Faith finds the body of a wealthy developer washed up near the lighthouse, and she must get to the bottom of the mystery before this vacation becomes her last.

BEING BAILEY

Dear Burning Questions,
We are worried about Bailey White, author of Star Light Motel and Other Memories on the Way Back Home. We are part of the stomping grounds in Bailey White's travels.

Kim Cordasco
Gainesville, Florida

Don't worry about Bailey: while the popular author and NPR commentator doesn't have any books of her own in the works, she still occasionally appears on NPR (most recently in November, telling her annual Thanksgiving tale). She's also been busy helping her brother, Robb White, ready his own book for publication in May by recording a special CD introduction. How to Build a Tin Canoe (Hyperion) includes many colorful stories about the Whites' carefree youth in the Georgia hills. A boat-builder and columnist for several boat magazines, Robb shares his sister's talent for making wry observations about their wacky but charming family.

Potter news flash!

Mark your calendar: The release of the long-awaited fifth Harry Potter book has been set for June 21. It's appropriate that the book hits the shelves on the summer solstice—the longest day of the year—because children and adults alike will need plenty of good reading light to tackle this behemoth.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix will be the longest Potter yet, with 768 pages and smaller type than the previous books. (If you want the gory details, and we suspect you do, Phoenix is 255,000 words, one-third longer than Goblet of Fire.) The retail price is $29.99.

The Potter publishers (Bloomsbury in the U.K. and Scholastic in the U.S.) have traditionally gone to great lengths to conceal plot details prior to publication. But one tantalizing excerpt seems to confirm speculation that author J.K. Rowling will reveal important information about the boy wizard's past:

Dumbledore lowered his hands and surveyed Harry through his half-moon glasses."It is time," he said, "for me to tell you what I should have told you five years ago, Harry. Please sit down. I am going to tell you everything.

Rowling herself has one other little project to take care of before the book's release: the birth of her second child, reported to be just a few weeks away. Rowling lives in Perthshire, Scotland, with her husband, Dr. Neil Murray, and daughter Jessica.